Transferring system



Oct. 23, 1934. E. E. WINKLEY 1,978,005

TRANSEFRRING SYSTEMI Q I Original Filed Feb. 14, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1;

1934. E. E. WINKLEY I .TRANS FERRING SYSTEM Original Filed Feb'. 14, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 was f 9% Oct. 23, 1934.

E. E. WINKLEY TRANSFERRING SYSTEM Original Filed Feb. 14, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 v Patented Oct. 23, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,978,005 TRANSFERRING SYSTEM Original application February 14, 1929, Serial No. 339,882. Divided and this application July 1, 1932, Serial No. 620,520

20 Claims. (Cl. 198-19) My invention relates to systems 'for transferring work from one point toanother, as from a -position in which an operation has been performed upon the work to a succeeding position for l a further operation. While the invention is not necessarily so limited, my improved system is of particular utility in connection with the forwarding of shoes in process of manufacture from one operating position, or a section'including a pluralityof such positions, to another position or section. This application is a division of an application filed in the United States Patent Office on February 14, 1929, Serial No. 339,882. Another divisional application Serial No. 620,519, directed 16 to a storage apparatus for containers andthe like, was filed July 1, 1932 simultaneously with the present case. f In transferring work as. just indicated, it is an object of this invention to attain its prompt ad: 20 Vance; its protection from injury: the maintenance during its advance of a sequential relation,

the work throughout the system being received by an operator in the same order in which the preceding operation was performed; the presen- 26 tation of the work conveniently for the receiving operator; and the minimizing the handling of the work and its holding or containing means. With shoes, the reason for prompt forwarding is found .not only in the obtaining of a high production- 30 rate, but also in the keeping of the work-portions in the best condition to receive. the operations."

That. is, in an operating section in which welting is done, the temper of the welt and the uppenor the amount of moisture they contain, should be kept as uniformly as possible at the most favorable degree for stitching, and, similarly, in an outsole-stitching section, the proper temperof the sole should be preserved. As to the order in which shoes pass through the system, after an operator has adjusted his machine to act upon a certain typeof shoe or has provided it with thread or other material of a particular color or grade, it is desirablethat he receive all the shoes of a lot, so that there need be no change in the machine or supplies until this manufacturing order has been completed. The shoes should, of course, be so transferred as to, facilitate their handling by the operators and in sucha way that they shall not be marred. For the achievement of this object, I utilize a novel system in which, for a series .of operating positions with a single operator employed at each position, successive positions throughout the series are connected by conveyors each individual to a pair of operators.

I '55 The work, by this arrangement, as soon as an advantage accrues regardless of the number of operation has been completed, may be forwarded promptly and directly to the point most convenient for the next operator, without the possibility of being diverted to other operators and from the remainder of ,the manufacturing order to which it belongs. Preferably, between succeeding positions conveyors operate in opposite directions, thus allowing not only the transfer of work but also the return of containers in which the work may be carried from position to position, so

they move in a closed circuit individual to each outattention on the part of the operator. This operators at a positionor the precise manner in which the conveyors connect positions. The automatic movement may be under the control of the conveyed articles, as containers with or without work, the engagement of the articles or their 0 weight, or both, governing the transferring means.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a single embodiment of my improved transferring system;

Fig. 2 is a broken side elevation of that portion of the transferring apparatus with which the present invention is particularly concerned;

Fig. 3 illustrates one extremity of said appara- 9 tus in perspective; and 0 Y Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the clutch mechanism of Figs. 2 and 3.

In Fig. l of the drawings there-is shown diagrammatically a portion of a bottoming room in a shoe-factory, though it is to be understood that this is merely for the purposes of illustration, and that my invention may not only be employed in connection with other shoe-making operations, but for themanufacture of other articles. There appear two successive groups of machines, A and B, the grouping being determined by the number of pairs of shoes upon which each group or section is able to perform its operations in a unit of time. It may be assumed. that through section A, pass threehundred pairs of shoes a day, or other work- 105 ing period, while in the second section B, two hundred pairs may be operated upon during the same time. The machines or manufacturing steps in each section, given in the order in which they act upon the work, may be .as enumerated below, the sequence and direction 'of advance being indicated by connecting lines bearing ar rowheads. In section A, at which the shoes are received upon racks after lasting, one of which is indicated at 30, or through other conveying means, the successive operations involve upperstapling at 32, upper-tack-pulling at 34, welting at 36, inseam-trimming at 38, insole-tack-pulling at 40, welt-butting and tacking at 42, seam-rollthose which are slowest in operation, these being,

respectively, the welter 36 of section A, and the stitcher 58 of section B, these each taking all of an operator's time. The other machines or operations may be arranged in sub-groups which may vary in different embodiments of the system, a plurality of operations, other than the welting and-stitching, being attended to by the respective operators indicated by circles designated by the letters a to i, inclusive. The number of machines or operations included in a subgroup will be such as to make each operators time correspond to that of the operator of the key-machine in the same main group. It is to be noted that one operator at d acts in both sections A and B, since the same machine at-44, 66 is utilized for the operations of inseam-rolling and outsole-leveling.

Between the successive operating positions, except as to the last four operations of channellaying, leveling, heel-seat-nailing and heel-seatrounding, where a rack 72 may be employed, I transfer the work by means of conveyors, the delivery by which is automatically controlled. For protecting the shoes and facilitating their transfer by these conveyors, I prefer to employ containers each holding a single shoe. These containers may be formed of fiber, sheet-metal or other appropriate material, being generally similar in shape to a shoe-box without a cover. Spaced from each other along horizontal lines at one extremity of each container are projections 82, 82 each provided with a head or enlargement 84. The purpose of these projections will later appear. Between operating. positions a and b, b and c, c and d, d and e, f and g, g and h, h and f, and ,f and d, transferring apparatus C is illustrated, which may be in each case substantially identical with the others thus designated, each having a delivering conveyor 86 for the containers 80 holding the work upon which an operation has been completed and which is to .be'forwarded to the succeeding operator, and a conveyor 88 by which the empty containers are returned from the second to the first operator. The pairs of conveyors- C differ in length and in that they may be located at different levels. The conveyors between a and b, b and c, and c and d all move in the same horizontal plane. Between f and g the conveyors 86 and 88 may travel in an upper plane, while those between g and h, and h and f, are ina' lower plane.

1A over section B, there is interposed between operators sand I a storage apparatus D for boxed work and a storage apparatus E for the empty containers or boxes 80. In addition to this, a drying and transferring conveyor F receives work from the cementing operator at e and delivers it to'the storage apparatus D. The apparatus D,

E and F do not enter specifically into the presentinvention and will not be considered in detail.

A conveying apparatus C will now be described. At opposite extremes of a frame 90 are journaled in fixed bearings the shafts of rolls 92, 92 carrying, respectively, the delivering or incoming end of the work-conveyor 86 and of the containerconveyor 88. Each of these rolls may be separately driven constantly in a direction opposite to the other through pulleys 94. The receiving or outgoing end of each of the conveyors is,carried by an idle roll 96 rotatable about the shafts of the rolls 92. Below the receiving end of each conveyor a yoke 98 is borne upon the upper extremity of a vertical rod 100 mounted to reciprocats in the frame and urged normally upward by a spring 102. Pivoted at 104 upon the yokes are pairs of advance-determining arms 106, 108, situated respectively upon opposite sides of and in proximity to the conveyors 86 and 88.

The arms of each pair are arranged to turn together, and to yield downwardly upon their yoke against a spring 110 interposed between a socket in the yoke and a lug projecting from the outer side of one of the arms. To one of the arms of the pairs 106 and 108 are joined rods 112 and 114, respectively. The lower extremity of the rod 112 is articulated to a bell-crank-lever 116 fulcrumed upon the frame. This, in turn, is connected by a link 118 to a latch 120 arranged to normally be urged by the spring 110 into engagement with a lever 122 which controls actuating mechanism M and which is pivoted above the latch. The rod 114 is guided in 9, lug 124 on the frame, a spring 126 being interposed between this lug and a latch 128'for a controlling lever 122 for a second actuating mechanism m arranged similarly to that at the opposite extremity of the apparatus. The effect of the spring 126 is to hold-the latch 128 normally in engagement with the associated lever 122 to prevent this from operating. The latch is moved away to release its lever by a collar 132 upon the rod 114 when the arms 108 are raised. The mechanism controlled by the lever 122 at each extremity of the conveyors may be identical, being as follows: Journaled longitudinally of the frame at each end beneath the conveyors is a horizontal shaft 133 (Fig. 4) geared at 134 to a transverse shaft 136. The shaft 136 may be rotated through a jaw-clutch 138, the portion of said clutch which is'normally loose upon the shaft being driven through sprocket-gearing 140 from a power-shaft 142,.the latter element being common to both ends of the conveying apparatus. Fast upon the shaft 133 is an arm 144 having a slot 146 to receive the upper arm of the controlling lever 122, the lower arm being engaged by the co-operating latch devices. The lever is fixed to a spindle 148 arranged transversely of the frame for both rotation and reciprocation. Fast upon the spindle is an am 150 which governs the member of clutch 138 which is splined to the shaft 136. The spindle also carries a fixed collar 152 between which and a portion of the frame extends a helical spring 154.

The eilfe ct of the spring, when. the lever 122 is unlatched, is to single rotation. Secured to the shaft is a cm 156 acting upon a bell-crank-lever 158 fulcrumed upon the frame and having an arm engaging the rod 100. The cam in its rotation first depresses the yoke 98 and then allows the spring 102 to elevate said yoke again. This first lowers the associated arms 106 or 108 with respect to their conveyor and then raises them. The lowering allows a container 80 resting upon either pair of arms to descend into such contact with the conveyor that it will be carried forward thereby. The restoration of the arms to normal takes place after another container has arrived over the arms, as will later appear.

Shown as fulcrumed upon the same axis as each lever 158 is a vertically extending transferring arm, designated at the delivering end of the conveyor 86 and at the delivering end of the conveyor 88 as 160 and 162, respectively. The arms and their associated elements may be generally the same and but one will be described.

Each arm is provided with a container-engaging end portion 164 extending above and substantially parallel to the delivering end of its conveyor. Ahorizontal offset 166 joins each end portion to its arm, while at the opposite or rear end are inner and outer horizontally alined lateral projections 168 and 1'70, respectively. The distance between 166 and"168 and 1'70 is suflicient to permit the first two of these elements to pass outside the opposite ends of a container 80 held upon the adjacentconveyor, the projection 168 entering the space produced by the containerprojections 82 contacting with the succeeding container in the series. The projection 1'70 temporarily holds said succeeding container from advance by the conveyor. The arm is oscillated across its conveyor, from the normal position illustrated in Fig. 3 to one in which a container will have been shifted from its conveyor to the adjacent conveyor and then the travel of the arm reversed, by an arm 1'72 fixed to its supporting spindle and maintained by a spring 1'74 in engagement with a cam 1'76 upon the shaft 133.

Fulcrumed upon each arm 160 and 162 is a lever 178 with its upper extremity drawn by a spring 180 against a plunger 182, which normally projects through the offset 166 in position to be struck and moved by an arriving container. The

lower end of the lever 178 is articulated to a rod 184, movable through the tubular mountings of the lever 158 and arms 162 and 1'72. The inner ends of the rods at the opposite extremities of the conveyors are connected to latches 186 at the mechanism m and 187 at the mechanism M arranged for engagement with the controlling arms 122 adjacent to the latches 128 and 120,,respectively. Thus each of the latches 186 and 187 exercises, with the associated latch, joint control of a lever 122. Therefore, the two pairs of latches govern separately the action of the container-releasing-arms 106 and 108 and the container-transferring arms 160 and 162.

The general operation of the conveying apparatus C may now be traced. Assume that there is stored upon the conveyor 88 a sufficient supply of empty containers to provide the operator at the outgoing end of the conveyor 86 with a reserve in which to place the work, if the production of the succeeding operator chances to fall behind, and that there is an empty container upon the arms 106, and upon the arms 108 another container holding work not yet removed by the receiving operator. The latch 120 is held in engagement with its clutch-controlling arm, because the weight of the container is not sumcient to overcome the elevating forceof the spring 110. Similar engagement of the latch 128 is produced by the spring 126 the container and work together so compressing the corresponding spring 110 that the collar 132 is held away from the latch. The latch 186-is also effective, since no container has yet arrived upon the conveyor 86. The latch 18'! is freed, because the forward container of the reserve series upon the conveyor 88 is pressing against its plunger 182. Now, when the operator at the outgoing end of conveyor 86 places in the container on the arms 106 a shoe'upon which he has completed his operation, the weight depresses the arms and through the rod 112 lowers the latch 120 from the controlling lever 122. This, by its spring 154, is moved to the left, as viewed in Fig. 4, and at the same time is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction. The arm 144 is thus freed and the clutch 138 caused to engage. After the arm is turned through 360 it is again stopped by the controlling lever. The lowering of the arms 106 by the weight of the container and work may not be sufficient to cause'such contact'with the conveyor 86 that said conveyor. will be efiective to carry the container to the opposite end of the apparatus. To produce full transferring engagement of the container with the conveyor as the former lowers the arms 106, the cam 156 causes the depression of the yoke 98 carrying the arms, this permitting the container to rest fully upon the conveyor and to be moved thereby. After the container with the shoe has left its receiving position, the cam 1'76 causes the arm 162 to swing from its association with the conveyor 88 to the inner edge of conveyor 86, shifting the empty container which has been in engagement with it to the last-mentioned conveyor. The projection 1'70 retains the succeeding containers of the series on the conveyor 88 from advance until the arm has returned to its initial position, whereupon the series is moved forward by the conveyor until stopped by the offset 166 ofthe arm, again withdrawing the latch 187. In the meantime, the latch 120 has become effective, because of the restoration of the arms 106 to normal. At the opposite extremity of the conveyor 86, the container with its shoe, the forward movement of which has just been described, strikes the plunger 182 and moves the latch 186 away fromthe lever 122 at this end of the apparatus. When the receiving operator takes from the container previously described as resting upon the arms 108 the shoe which it holds, the force of the spring 110 is suflicient to raise it. This per-. mits the collar 132 to operate the latch 128 against the force of the spring 126, completing the freeing of the lever 122. The clutch and cam mechanism m therefore act, in the manner already described in connection with the opposite end of the conveyors to cause the now empty container to be returned by the conveyor 88, and the container with its work to be transferred from the conveyor 86 to conveyor 88. The latches 128 and 186 have resumed their initial relation. It should be noted that the arrangement of the apparatus is such that the transferring movement at either end of the apparatus cannot take place until the container is ready for transfer, either with or without its contents, according to which extremity is considered, and until the associated conveyor is clear, ready to receive the container to be transferred.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the.United States is:

1. The combinationwith adjacent endless conveyors, of means for advancing the conveying runs of the conveyors, in opposite directions, and means associated with the extremities of the conveyors and governed by both the arrival of articles and a change of location of articles for transferring articles from each conveyor to the associated conveyor.

2. The combination with adjacent endless'conveyors, of means for advancing the conveying runs of the conveyors in opposite directions, members movable in opposite directions at the extremities of the two conveyors for transferring articles from one conveyor to the other, moving means associated with each of the members, and controlling mechanism for each moving means governed by the articles upon both conveyors.

3. The combination with adjacent endless conveyors, of means for advancing the conveying runs of the conveyors in opposite directions, members movable at the extremities of the two conveyors for transferring articles from one conveyor to the other, means for moving each of the members, and controlling mechanism for the moving means governed by the weight of the articles.

The combination with adjacent endless conveyors, of means for advancing the conveying runs of the conveyors in opposite directions, members movable at the extremities of the two conveyors for transferring articles from one conveyor to the other, means for moving each of the members, and controlling mechanism for the moving means governed by the engagement of the articles under the influence of the force imparted by the travel of one conveyor and the weight of articles upon the other conveyor.

5. The combination with adjacent conveyors, of a member arranged to move articles from one conveyor to another, means for moving the member, and means associated with each of the conveyors for controlling the moving means, one of said controlling means being governed by the engagement of the articles advanced by a conveyor and the other controlling means being governed by the weight of the articles;

' 6. The combination with adjacent conveyors, of a member arranged to move articles from one conveyor to another, means for moving the member, controlling means for the moving means mounted upon said moving means, and a movable controlling member for the moving means associated with a conveyor and governed by the weight of articles to be conveyed.

7. The combination with two adjacent conveyors, of means for moving the conveyors in opposite directions, a transferring member, means for moving the member from one conveyor to the other, a clutchthrough which the transferring member is moved, controlling mechanism for the clutch, and a latch for the controlling mechanism governed by articles at both conveyors.

8. The combination with two adjacent conveyors, of means for driving the conveyors, a transferring member, means for moving the member from one conveyor to the other, a clutch through which the transferring member is moved, con-.

I trolling mechanism for the clutch, two latches for the controlling mechanism, a member movable upon the transferring member and arranged to receive contact of conveyed articles, a contact member movable adjacent to the conveyor, means for raising the last-mentioned member yieldably above the conveying surface for depression by an article to be conveyed, and connections between the contact members and latches.

9. The combination with a conveyor, of a' transferring arm pivoted adjacent thereto, a plunger'movable upon the arm by conveyed articles, a lever fulcrumed upon the arm and engaging the plunger, driving mechanism for moving .the transferring arm, and'connections between the driving mechanism and lever.

10. The combination with a conveyor, of supporting means movable to carry an article while supported .upon such means into engagement with the conveyor, means for moving the supporting means, and means governed by a change in the weight of an article on the supporting means for controlling the moving means.

11. The combination with a conveyor, of supporting means for an article, said supporting means being movable by the article to permit said article'while still thus supported to approach the conveyor, and means controlled as a result of such movement toward the conveyor to carry the supported article into transferring engagement with said conveyor.

12. The combination with a conveyor, of supporting means for an article, said supporting means being yieldable, and means operable upon such yield for moving the supporting means to carry the article into transferring engagement with the conveyor.

13. The combination with a conveyor, of a support, means for raising and lowering the support, a member movable on the support and arranged to carry an article above the conveyor, means for yieldably holding the member above the conveying surface, and connections between the member and raising andlowering means.

14. The combination with a conveyor, of a support, means for raising and lowering the support, arms pivoted upon the support at opposite sides of the conveyor, a spring arranged to normallyraise the arms above the conveyor, and connections between the arms and the raising and lowering means.

15. The combination with a conveyor, of a support, means for raising and lowering the support including a clutch, arms pivoted upon the support at opposite sides of the conveyor, controlling means for' the clutch, a latch for the controlling means, and connections between the arms and latch for moving said latch.

16. The combination with two adjacent conveyors, of an article-transferring member arranged to move from each of the conveyors toward its companion, an article-supporting member movable toward and from 'each conveyor, operating means individual to each pair of associated transferring and supporting members, and

means controlled by articles at such transferring I and supporting members for controlling their respective operating means.

17. The combination with two adjacent conveyors, of an article-transferring member arranged to move from each of the conveyors toward its companion, an article-supporting mem-- ,ber movable toward and from each conveyor,

operating means individual to each pair of associated transferring and supporting members and including a clutch, controlling mechanism for each clutch, two latches for each controlling mechanism, and operating connections between the latches and the corresponding transferring and supporting members.

18. In a system for transferring shoes in containers, means for advancing the containers with the shoesfor an operation upon said shoes, container-storage means, means for forwarding from the advancing means to the storage means the containers from which shoes have been removed at the operating position, and means made effective only after such removal for actuating the forwarding means.

19. In a. system for transierring shoe-containers, conveying means extending from an operating position at which shoes are removed from their containers, container-storage means, and automatic means governed by the shoe-removal for transferring containers from the conveying means to the storage means.

ea. In a system for transferring shoes in con- 

